Since there is so little discussion on it, I suppose I will say some things here as per YaU30.

There is a lot of different imagery going on, which goes to guide how one can visualise the SCP. But a few things of note,

This makes it possible for subjects at a distance to listen to conversations being held in SCP-3535's vicinity.

By 'subject', would this refer to those who were exposed to the biological substance in the leaves?

It appears that this gives the SCP-3535 instance some intuition on the subject's location and activities, although this effect requires further research.

IMO, this feels to be a more difficult thing to visualise. How did the Foundation arrive at that, I wonder?

The addendum focuses quite a bit on what happened, such as the researchers affected by the leaves or the plumbing is suddenly affected. Now, I would wonder how those things happen. Did the roots attach itself to the plumbing? And how would the researchers get cut by the plant? Are the leaves so small that they cannot be seen? Or perhaps they are contaminated with other plant SCPs?

Ergo, it is my hunch, but the process in which the containment incident happen would show more than to state that X and Y are affected.

Additionally, I find some effects to be extraneous, namely:

If a leaf taken from one is placed on a black and white document, the text covered by the leaf will be reproduced on its surface.

This makes it possible for subjects at a distance to listen to conversations being held in SCP-3535's vicinity.

Both are interesting things, and can afford their own stories. But it's sad that they are just mentioned and don't seem to mesh well with the rest of the article.

I had downvoted this article when I first read it, but hadn't commented. Here are my comments as part of the Young and Under 30 Project.

What works well: The idea of a "spy tree", especially one that isn't obviously being used as a tool, but appears to be working for its own purposes, is an interesting avenue to pursue.

What could be improved: I don't think that this sells the "spy tree" story very much at all. It took me several re-reads after seeing Roget's comment above to really appreciate that angle, and while I'm usually pretty slow on the uptake, I think that this could do much better in getting the idea across.

For example, the description of the effects comes across as too much of a hodgepodge to develop a theme or throughline. Sticky sap, clouds of particulate matter and explosive detachment are not things that I associate with spies, and they turn up early in the Description, meaning that the remaining anomalies didn't form a pattern for me.

This is not helped by the brief length of the skip. The descriptive passages skim over *how* the tree does all these things, stretching my suspension of belief too thin. The second paragraph of the Description has several confusing sentences that slowed down the reading process and distracted from the purpose.

The other point that broke my immersion was the Foundation's acceptance, without evidence, that the trees were sapient. The phrase "this gives the SCP-3535 instance some intuition on the subject's location…" turned up so blithely, without any previous mention of sapience, that it knocked me out of the story.

The History section didn't seem to add much to the theme, or have any real literary purpose. Similarly, the Addendum felt rushed and lacking detail, and didn't attempt to explain a large number of narrative leaps.

How to improve it: I would suggest cutting back the number of different anomalous effects, and concentrating on what spies actually do, so that the purpose of the trees becomes much more obvious. I would lose anything that suggests the trees are sapient (other than the fact that they appear to be spying). Then I'd delete the History section entirely, and add a lot more detail in the Addendum - turn that into a full-on spy story (in clinical tone), with plots and gambits, and I think you could be on to something.

Verdict: A clear downvote in this form - the whole is much less than the sum of its anomalous effects.

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Here also with Yau30, and I can only agree with psul. My impression after reading the article is "too many random effects, not enough focus on the interesting ones" (here, I mean the fact that it can integrate itself with other plant-like things that aren't even plants). And then I read the author's post above, and I can't say I got that impression at all. It's apparent from the description that something is meant by the strange mishmash of anomalous abilities, it's just never clear what.

I also came upon this from the YaU30 project, and while I agree with several of psul's points above, I arrived, ultimately, at an upvote.

I agree that the number of anomalous effects make the skip's underlying purpose as a "spy tree" almost intentionally vague, acting as red herrings (explosive limb detachment and sticky sap amongst them). Are these supposed to approximate James Bond-style spy gadget functions? If so, that's a little silly. If not, they serve no real purpose to the central theme. I also share concerns above with ascribing sapience to this skip.

Despite this, I enjoyed the idea of an anomalous plant that acts in a hybrid cuckoo bird/parasite manner and becomes a perfect spy, and it was written well despite the issues. Many of the remaining anomalous effects (adaptive camouflage, roots what listen, mind-affecting properties) serve the concept well.